[Dec-advocacy] news update

[Sarah Hadden]

Welcome to the DEC Advocacy List. The Division for Early Childhood 
(DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children is a non-profit 
membership organization advocating for individuals who work with or on 
behalf of children with special needs, birth through age eight, and 
their families. For more information about DEC, please contact the DEC 
Office at: The Division for Early Childhood, 27 Fort Missoula Road, 
Suite 2, Missoula, MT 59804. Phone: 406-543-0872, Fax: 406-543-0887, 
e-mail: dec at dec-sped.org. If you would like to either join or be 
removed from the DEC Advocacy List, email Sarah Hadden at 
dsh5gn at virginia.edu. Additional information about governmental 
relations activities can be obtained by visiting the DEC website: 
http://www.dec-sped.org/

1/10/06

Good morning. President Bush has signed the Labor, Education and Health 
and Human Services appropriations bill into law. With the exception of 
programs for veterans, all programs covered under this bill received a 
1% across the board cut.  The cuts to IDEA total $20.6 million. This 
means that the federal government is now paying 17.8% of the cost of 
educating children with disabilities - a far cry from Congress' 
commitment to fully fund IDEA @40% by 2011. I'm including information 
about cuts to specific programs below. These dollar amounts represent 
the decrease from the 2005 spending levels. I am also including CEC's 
funding chart at the end of this message.

IDEA Funding for Fiscal Year 2006 in Detail
	State and Local Grant Program (Part B) - Decrease of $7 million
	Preschool Grants (Part B, section 619) – Decrease of $3.8 million
	Early Intervention Program (Part C) – Decrease of $4.4 million
	State Personnel Development Grants (Part D) – Decrease of $500,000
	Personnel Preparation (Part D) – Decrease of $906,000
	Parent Information Centers (Part D) – Decrease of $260,000
	Technology and Media Services (Part D) – Decrease of $388,000

The President will unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2007 at 
the beginning of next month. Congress will then start the 
appropriations process for FY 2007. I urge all of you to contact your 
members of Congress to voice your concerns about cuts in funding for 
IDEA. If you haven't done so before, it is easy to send an email via 
CEC's Public Policy and Advocacy Legislative Action Center. Go to: 
http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/index.html and click on "Write to Congress." 
Once you enter your zip code, you can send a message to your Senators 
and Representatives.  CEC has prepared a text that you can use or you 
may write your own.

Sarah Hadden
DEC Governmental Relations Committee

  
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